The Rough Guide to The Dordogne & The Lot (Travel Guide eBook)

Description

The Rough Guide to the Dordogne & the Lot is the definitive guide to this beautiful and beguiling region of France, with clear maps, expert accounts, inspirational itineraries and fascinating historical and cultural information.

Discover the Dordogne and the Lot's many highlights, with stunning photography and comprehensive coverage of everything from the prettiest villages and best markets to the amazing prehistoric cave art and the region's sumptuous wines.

Detailed practical advice covers what to see and do in the Dordogne and the Lot, from cycling trails and hiking routes to canoeing down the rivers, and you can rely on up-to-date descriptions of the best restaurants and bars for all budgets, as well as the lowdown on where to stay, from campsites and chambers d'hôte to sumptuous château hotels.

Make the most of your holiday with The Rough Guide to the Dordogne & the Lot.

Sujets

• France

Informations

• Publié par: Apa Publications
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780241314784
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 55 Mo

Extrait

CONTENTS HOW TO USE INTRODUCTION Where to go When to go Things not to miss Itineraries BASICS Getting there Getting around Accommodation Food and drink Festivals Sports and outdoor activities Shopping and markets Travelling with children Travel essentials THE GUIDE Périgueux and the north Bergerac and around Sarlat and the Périgord Noir The Upper Dordogne valley and Rocamadour The Lot valley and around South of the River Lot CONTEXTS History Books French Glossary MAPS AND SMALL PRINT Introduction Introduction Cover Table of Contents
HOW TO USE THIS ROUGH GUIDE EBOOK
This Rough Guide is one of a new generation of informative and easy-to-use travel-guide ebooks that guarantees you make the most of your trip. An essential tool for pre-trip planning, it also makes a great travel companion when you re on the road.
From the table of contents , you can click straight to the main sections of the ebook. Start with the Introduction , which gives you a flavour of the Dordogne and the Lot, with details of what to see, what not to miss, itineraries and more - everything you need to get started. This is followed by Basics , with pre-departure tips and practical information, such as flight details and festival dates. The guide chapters offer comprehensive and in-depth coverage of the whole of the region, including area highlights and full-colour maps featuring all the sights and listings. Finally, Contexts fills you in on history and recommended reading, and also includes a handy Language section.
Detailed area maps feature in the guide chapters and are also listed in the dedicated map section , accessible from the table of contents. Depending on your hardware, you can double-tap on the maps to see larger-scale versions, or select different scales. There are also thumbnails below more detailed maps - in these cases, you can opt to zoom left/top or zoom right/bottom or view the full map. The screen-lock function on your device is recommended when viewing enlarged maps. Make sure you have the latest software updates, too.
Throughout the guide, we ve flagged up our favourite places - a perfectly sited hotel, an atmospheric caf , a special restaurant - with the author pick icon . You can select your own favourites and create a personalized itinerary by bookmarking the sights, venues and activities that are of interest, giving you the quickest possible access to everything you ll need for your time away.
INTRODUCTION TO THE DORDOGNE & THE LOT
The green, secluded valleys of the Dordogne and the Lot have long attracted artists and lovers of the good life. In the many caves that tunnel into the honey-coloured limestone cliffs, prehistoric peoples painted some of the world’s earliest masterpieces, depicting the pot-bellied ponies, mammoths and muscular bison that once lived in the region’s woodlands. Later occupants expressed their faith by building the delicate Romanesque churches found on many a hilltop, as well as an array of abbeys and towering cathedrals, while the legacy of a less refined and more bellicose era lies in the medieval fortresses perched on craggy pinnacles of rock.

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FACT FILE
The area covered by this Guide amounts to some 22,000 square kilometres, about the size of Wales, but has a population of under a million, one of the lowest population densities in metropolitan France. The French Air Force has special permission to perform occasional low-level flying practice in the Lot valley, on the premise that there is less chance of tragedy should an accident occur. The economy is based on tourism and agriculture, primarily wine production. Bergerac has 120 square kilometres of vines while the Cahors’ vineyards amount to about 43 square kilometres. Originally planted by the Romans in 50 BC they are said to be the oldest in France. The region boasts three World Heritage Sites – the Vézère valley, with its prehistoric cave art, the entire Causses du Quercy and a dozen or so sites listed under the pilgrims’ route to Santiago de Compostela. The iconic French jam , Bonne Maman, with its distinctive red-checked lid, is made in Biars, in the northern Lot. During a fête , when the soup course comes to a close, it is de rigueur for gentlemen to tip a glass of Cahors wine into the empty bowl, swill it round and drink it down in one, to the boisterous cheers of their companions. The Causses du Quercy is known to astronomers the world over as the “black triangle” because it has the lowest light pollution in France. Pigeonniers – vernacular structures originally built as pigeon lofts and often highly ornamental – encapsulate the Quercy landscape. The oldest were constructed on stilts in order to facilitate the collection of manure. They are still built as architectural features today and nearly every sizeable house has one.
In addition to this richly layered history, the Dordogne and Lot are endowed with a tremendous variety of scenery, from the dry limestone plateaux of the causses , sliced through with narrow gorges, to densely wooded valleys and the serried ranks of gnarled grape vines which yield the region’s fabulous wines. Through these landscapes slide the great rivers that unify and define southwest France: running swiftly through its deeply cloven valley, the Vézère hurtles into the Dordogne , which in turn flows placidly out to the Atlantic coast. Further south the serpentine Lot writhes its way across the country to join the mighty Garonne , which along with its tributaries, the Tarn and Aveyron , mark this region’s southern border.
  This peaceful corner of France is best savoured at its own unhurried pace. There is always some forgotten corner to stumble upon, a market or a village fête to enjoy, or something to catch the eye, from the postcard-perfect villages of blue-shuttered stone houses to fields of luminous sunflowers and gurgling willow-lined rivers. The Dordogne and the Lot are certainly not undiscovered – indeed, some sights are numbered among the most visited in the country – but the region’s heartland is still steeped in what the French call the douceur de vivre , the gentle way of life, where there’s plenty of time for a long, lazy lunch, be it a picnic of market-fresh produce under the shade of a riverbank tree or a restaurant spread of the region’s classic dishes.

FOOD AND DRINK IN THE DORDOGNE AND THE LOT
The Dordogne and the Lot are blessed with some of the most sought-after delicacies in the culinary world, including the celebrated> black truffle and rich foie gras (fattened duck- or goose-liver pâté). Deep in the oak forests, cèpes cluster in generous numbers and hordes of wild sangliers (boars) roam. On the high limestone causses lie secluded dairy farms, where goat’s cheese reaches its apogee in the creamy Cabécou , while swathes of delicate violet flowers – the saffron crocus – thrive in the harsh conditions. Between the neatly combed vineyards ( Cabécou ), walnut plantations provide barrels of precious walnut oil and the region’s famous dessert, tarte aux noix . Accompanying this copious feast are the rich, dark wines of Cahors and the fragrant, golden Monbazillac of Bergerac. South of the Lot valley the landscape changes to the baking fields of the Quercy Blanc and temperatures shift up a gear to ripen acres of yellow sunflowers, heaps of melons and orchards dripping with peaches , plums and apricots .

Where to go
The principal northern gateway to the Dordogne and the Lot is the charming city of Brive-la-Gaillarde (usually shortened to Brive), whose cosy café culture exudes the spirit of the south, a hint of pleasures to come. West lies Périgueux , where an extraordinary Byzantine-style cathedral stands above a tangle of medieval lanes. The city is the capital of a broad sweep of rolling pasture and woodland known as Périgord Vert (Green Périgord). This region’s loveliest river is the Dronne and its most appealing town water-bound Brantôme , known for its rock-cut sanctuaries and plethora of restaurants. East of here is castle-country: Château de Puyguilhem stands out for its elegant Renaissance architecture, while the Château de Hautefort is one of the grandest castles in the Dordogne and Lot.
  South of Périgueux, in an area known as Périgord Pourpre (Purple Périgord) thanks to its wine production, vines cloak the slopes of the lower Dordogne valley around the pleasant riverside town of Bergerac . The star of this area is the river itself, which loops through two immense meanders near Trémolat to create a classic Dordogne scene.
  East of Trémolat the colour scheme changes again as you enter the Périgord Noir (Black Périgord), named for the preponderance of evergreen oaks with their dark, dense foliage. Here you’ll find the greatest concentration of Périgord cottages with their steep, stone-covered roofs, and dramatic fortresses perched high above the river. Here, too, are the walnut orchards and flocks of ducks and geese, the source of so much of the produce featured in the region’s markets. Of these the most vivid is that at Sarlat-la-Canéda , held among the fine medieval and Renaissance houses built in honey-coloured stone. Close by, the beetling cliffs of the Vézère valley are riddled with limestone caves where prehistoric artists left their stunning legacy.
  Upstream from Sarlat, the abbey-church of Souillac offers remarkable Romanesque carvings, while the nearby pilgrimage town of Rocamadour , set halfway up a cliff face, is equally compelling. Further east is the Château de